LA Galaxy Captain Landon Donovan Called Up to the U.S. National Team

CARSON, Calif. (Monday, October 8, 2012) – LA Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan was one of 24 players called into the U.S. National Team by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann ahead of the final two matches in the Semifinal Round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup against Antigua & Barbuda and Guatemala.

The U.S. faces Antigua & Barbuda on Oct. 12 in North Sound, Antigua, with that game scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. (PT) and will be shown live on beIN SPORT. Four days later, the U.S. will close out the Semifinal Round in front of sold-out LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. That match will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. (PT) on ESPN2, WatchESPN and the Univision family.

The all-time leading goal scorer for the U.S., Donovan has scored 49 times in 144 appearances for his country. He is also the all-time leader in World Cup Qualifying appearances and goals for the U.S., scoring 12 times in 37 World Cup Qualifiers. He has appeared in two of the four games that the U.S. has played in this round of Qualifying, starting both games as the U.S. beat Antigua & Barbuda 3-1 on June 8 and drew Guatemala 1-1 on the road on June 11.

The U.S. is currently even with Guatemala at the top of Group A with seven points and matching totals in both goal differential and goals scored. Jamaica also has seven points but sits in third place due to a lower goal differential. With the three nations tied on points and jockeying for the top two spots, no team will be able to secure a place in the Final Round until the last group matches are played on Oct. 16.

All five of those players are scheduled to return to Southern California next week ahead of the club’s final road game of the MLS regular season at San Jose on Sunday, Oct. 21. That game will kick off at 4 p.m. and will be shown live in English on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and nationwide in Spanish on Galavision. To learn more about this game or to purchase tickets to any Galaxy home game, please visit the club’s official website at www.lagalaxy.com.